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The Addams Family (SNES) FAQ/Walkthrough v3.0
Written by Rydain Darkstar <rydain@gmail.com>
Last Revised June 10, 2008
===============================================================================
Table of Contents
===============================================================================
1) Introduction [INTRO]
2) Controls [CONTROLS]
3) Weapons, Items, and Other Power-Ups [ITEMS]
4) General Advice [ADVICE]
5) Walkthrough [WALKTHROUGH]
6) Password Hacking [PASSWORD]
7) Fun Stuff [FUN_STUFF]
8) Revision History [REVISIONS]
9) Credits [CREDITS]
10) Legal Junk [LEGAL]
===============================================================================
1) Introduction [INTRO]
===============================================================================
Back in the SNES' heyday, I bought this game because it was based on my
favorite movie and the gameplay looked like fun. I tore through it in less
than a week, but it entertained me for months thereafter. The extensive
map, secret-packed rooms, and player friendly design kept me coming back for
more. I hadn't played very many games that encouraged me to goof around. The
Addams Family rewarded my random jumping and wall-poking with everything from
extra point caches to hidden areas. Thanks to its generosity with 1-Ups and
mid-level checkpoints, the occasional fatality was never a problem.
I wrote this FAQ for anyone interested in this overlooked game. Even today,
I still get a kick out of wandering around the weird and wacky Addams manse.
===============================================================================
2) Controls [CONTROLS]
===============================================================================
D-Pad LEFT and RIGHT move you in those directions. Press UP to enter
doors, climb up ropes and ladders, and stab upward with the
sword (UP + Y/B). DOWN allows you to duck, climb down, and
drop into pipes and other such passages.
A/X Jumps, swims (underwater), or flies (with a Fezi-copter).
Y/B Attacks with a weapon if you have one.
L/R Inches to the left or right.
Start Pauses the game.
Select Press while paused to display "Select to Quit". On this
screen, press Select again to get warped to a continue room of
sorts. The doors here will take you back to the beginning of
the house or simply reset the game for you. Walk off the left
side of the screen to get some extra lives.
===============================================================================
3) Weapons, Items, and Other Power-Ups [ITEMS]
===============================================================================
Weapons
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sword Your basic rapier. Can stab upward, which is the only way to
get certain 1-Ups.
Golf Ball Thrown so they bounce along the ground. Like the sword, will
collect any item they touch.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Items
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Money Collect $25 for a heart, $100 for a 1-Up.
Heart Restores one heart of your health meter.
Shield Makes you temporarily invincible. A long bubbly sound gives
plenty of warning that the shield is about to expire.
Fezi-copter A nifty fez that grants you powers of flying. It lasts
indefinitely until you go into a different room, and then you
can use the 'copter for about 15 seconds before it disappears.
Shoes Increase your running speed. You can wear up to two pairs at
once. This will make you skid all over the place, but it comes
in handy for one particular area.
1-Up Your typical extra life. You also get a 1-Up for every
50,000 points earned.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Power-Ups
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heart Upgrade An extra heart for your health meter.
===============================================================================
4) General Advice [ADVICE]
===============================================================================
Gameplay
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gomez can stay underwater indefinitely.
There is no "instant death" in this game. Lava and spikes just hurt you.
Bottomless holes always lead to another area. Nice, eh?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Items
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weapons and shoes act as health insurance. If you get hit with any such items
equipped, you will lose them and your life meter will not decrease.
Weapons, hearts, shoes, and Fezi-copters regenerate if you leave a room and
and return. Money, 1-Ups, and shields do not. All items return at the start
of a new game, whether or not you entered a password.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enemies
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Most enemies can be killed by stomping, even piranha fish. As you probably
guessed, this doesn't work for spiked critters, such as the bare-branched
trees, or the fiery creatures in the oven rooms. Use a weapon or just avoid
them. You can bounce off of anything that is stompable.
Once you kill an enemy, it stays dead until you leave the room and return. If
you have some time on your hands, you can completely clear out an area and run
around in there until you get bored.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Passwords
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your lives are saved in your password. Thanks to a bug in the code, said
password won't work if either digit of your number of lives is 9. However,
you can easily generate a valid password. If you're playing this game as a
ROM, fixing this bug is trivial. The Password Hacking section explains this
in much more detail.
===============================================================================
5) Walkthrough [WALKTHROUGH]
===============================================================================
This walkthrough is meant to describe the easiest path to each boss while
pointing out some helpful secrets along the way. It is not a comprehensive
overview of every single room, nook, and cranny in the house. If you want to
see how it all fits together, take a look at my House Map FAQ that lists every
room in existence.
________________________________________
In the Beginning [WK_BEGINNING]
Heart #1 (The Old Tree) [WK_HEART1]
Heart #2 (The Kitchen) [WK_HEART2]
Heart #3 (The Conservatory) [WK_HEART3]
Pugsley [WK_PUGSLEY]
Wednesday [WK_WEDNESDAY]
Granny [WK_GRANNY]
Fester [WK_FESTER]
Morticia [WK_MORTICIA]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the Beginning [WK_BEGINNING]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You start off outside the Addams manse. If you're interested, there are a
few goodies out here. Head all the way left to find the gallows. Climb up
the noose and snag the Fezi-copter. Fly up to the chimneys and drop into one
of them. They both have stuff, so don't forget to drop into the one you come
out of as well.
Head into the house. In the HALL OF STAIRS, walk directly left and press UP
under the landing to find PUGSLEY'S DEN. Cute, but there's way more here than
you might think. Press UP on the top landing. Have fun. You'll especially
like the door on the upper floor of THE CLOAK ROOM. Recall that 1-Ups
reappear when you restart the game. If you're playing old school style with
passwords and no saved states, I suggest you come back here for a refill each
time you get a new password.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heart #1 (The Old Tree) [WK_HEART1]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back in the HALL OF STAIRS, go through the lower left door to reach THE OLD
TREE. You might want to duck into the tree's mouth and grab a golf ball
before you jump up to the top and do battle with the big blue bird there.
He's easy, but having a weapon is always good. Just stomp on him or otherwise
smack him in the head until he croaks.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heart #2 (The Kitchen) [WK_HEART2]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The upper right door in the main hall leads to THE KITCHEN. At the far left
is a door to a freezer area. Be careful of the slippery floor and the icicle-
encrusted ceiling, which will hurt if you bump into it. This region is
linear, but there are some points of interest and things to keep in mind.
If PENGUIN PROBLEMS is annoying the crap out of you, remember that the
penguins do not infinitely respawn. Stop, kill off the ones onscreen, proceed
until more appear, and repeat until you get to the end of the level. This
will drastically reduce the amount of dodging you have to do. The stupid
creatures gladly run right at you, so you can just stand there and hop on them
when they come near.
Near the end of ROLLING SNOWBALL, you'll see some items embedded in the floor.
Walk into the wall to their left to reach them. The next room, THE SKI
SLOPES, is the last in this area. At the end, duck and slide into the right
wall to find yourself in THE COLD CASH. Yay for free stuff.
Fighting THE SNOWMAN is a bit tricky thanks to the icy floor, but at least he
only has four hit points. Needless to say, you can't stomp him when he's
rolling around. You don't want to get conked by the icicles, either. After
you kick some frozen ass, take note of the cute little musical flourish in THE
SLOPE BACK. This short tune is not used anywhere else in the game.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heart #3 (The Conservatory) [WK_HEART3]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Access THE CONSERVATORY from the lower right door in the main hall. Early on,
you'll notice some clay pots with an exploding tomato on top. Duck into the
rightmost one to reach THE PLANT PLOT. Ineptly titled, yes, but it has some
goodies for you. Further along, a shoe floats next to a pillar. Walk left
into that pillar to find THE PRIVET and yet more stuff. When you spot a high
platform with a switch on top, bounce off an enemy to get up there. Bop said
switch. Continue right and enter the first door you see.
You're now in THORN PASS, but you won't be staying long. Head right and take
note of the door on a high ledge. You'll need to bounce off the nearby bird
to get up there. This is rather tricky, and it might take you a couple of
tries to get it. The most annoying part is having to leave the room and
return if you kill the bird but don't reach the ledge. Bleh.
The tricky ledge door leads to WORMY WAY. If you get to the upper level by
bouncing off the rabbit instead of hitting the switch, you can collect some
cash as you head right. The rest is straightforward, with some fun vine
jumping near the end.
Get ready to stomp THE CENTIPEDES. You can hit these guys anywhere except
their heads. Just stay in the lower left corner and jump on their body
segments when you get a good shot. If you're patient, this battle should be a
joke.
The door here leads to MONSTER GARDEN, another room in the conservatory. You
can work your way back if you want, but I find it easiest to do the Select to
Quit warp trick. Don't forget to pick up the secret 1-Ups if you didn't
already.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pugsley [WK_PUGSLEY]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The toy room area looks more like a torture chamber to me. (Should we expect
anything else from the Addams kids?) It's laid out oddly, but you don't have
to deal with most of it. If you know the shortcuts, this is the quickest
stage to beat.
Head through the top door in the main hall to reach THE GAMES ROOM. At the
end of this area, jump on top of the door and press UP to find THE TOY BOX.
Grab the goodies here by jumping up through the gold blocks and falling down
the side.
The right door in THE TOY BOX takes you into THE RACK. Just go back through
that same door, which mysteriously leads to THE TOY TOWER. Jump up to the
right ledge and into the ceiling, pressing UP to find a hidden rope. Climb up
there and enter the door to THE PLAYROOM.
At some points, you'll need to bounce off cannonballs to cross long spike
pits. Above the exit is a secret door to THE MONEY BOX. Get the 1-Up in here
by jumping through the gold blocks above the door.
That's it. You're done. Well, almost. Exit THE PLAYROOM to face off with
a WACKY SCIENTIST. He circles his blades around him, shoots them out, and
repeats this pattern. Immediately after you get in here, jump up onto the top
ledge on the right. Duck. Wait for the blades to fly past you. You can get
three easy hits in before the blades circle around to the right. When that
happens, stand on the floor to avoid them. After this guy kicks the bucket,
duck into the pipe that Pugsley was standing on. Mmm...cash.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday [WK_WEDNESDAY]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's time to do some spelunking. Return to THE OLD TREE and go through its
mouth. Drop all the way down to find an elevator, some cash, and a
Fezi-copter. At the top of the area is a ledge with some hearts and 1-Ups.
Keep heading down and to the right until you exit to UNDER GRAVEYARD.
Ultimately, you'll want to get to the exit in the upper right corner of the
room. Stuff awaits if you're up for a detour. Jump into the water and swim
to the left for money and a handful of 1-Ups in SUNKEN STAIRS. If you're in
the mood for more swimming, you'll find another 1-Up in the middle of a
pillar. Just walk in there from the right. There's yet another 1-Up on a
ledge at the right side of the room, but it can be tricky to reach.
When you make your way to the end of this nutty room, you'll rise out of a
a grave into...you guessed it. Ooh, spooky. Head left through THE GRAVEYARD,
avoiding all the flying pumpkins and crap. Walk into the mausoleum to reach
THE UPPER TOMB.
There's not much to do here. If you head right after you drop past the
highest level with the fire pits, you can pick up a few extra bucks. Walk
into the notch in the wall to the lower right of the cash to get an
invincibility shield. The door at the lower left leads to SPOOKY DROP, a
short vertical level. When given a choice to fall to the left or right, take
the left route if you want a heart.
If you want to check out a hidden room, exit SPOOKY DROP and return. This
resets the switch, opening up a secret for you. Jump left into the wall to
find a hidden passageway to the annoying CRYPTIC CLIMB. You must jump all the
way to the top to trip a switch and remove the wall you see at the left. It's
a pain in the ass to get up there, and your only reward is a handful of 1-Ups.
To reach the extra lives behind the wall, stand on the second highest moving
block and jump against the left wall to reveal a hidden block. Stand on this
block and duck. The top moving block will push you partially through the gap.
Stand up, and you'll slide into the area with two 1-Ups. All in all, it's a
lot of work for a small payoff.
Next up is THE ARCH VAULT, which reminds me of a Super Mario fortress. There
are tons of fireballs and Thwomp-y crystal things to dodge. Weeeeee. Locate
and bop switches to make your way through JESTER'S JUMP. Be careful not to
to whack your head on the blocks and go splat into the lava. It's not that
difficult. Get a running start, and you should be fine. You don't have to
jump at the absolute last microsecond, just at the end of the platform.
THE STONE STEPS brings more crystal-dodging fun and a shortcut. Watch for an
opening in the ceiling above a crystal star. Head right to find a
Fezi-copter. Backtrack and fly up into the hole. Collect JESTER'S JEWELS
(well, Jester's Cash, I guess) and exit into THE CRAZY CRYPT.
This room is appropriately named. It's big, with tons of enemies floating
around. Flip the switch as you jump over the gap underneath it so that you'll
wind up on the right end of that floor. Fall down the gap there and head
right. Near the end of the level, you can hit a switch to create a column of
blocks. Jump up there for a decent stash of cash. If you accidentally smack
your head on one of the switches on the way up, the blocks will disappear, and
you'll have to start over. It's not really that bad. Unless you're a totally
klutzy jumper, the money is worth the trouble.
THE FIRING FISH is another aptly named area. You'll have to do some bouncing
here, so I hope you're good at landing on moving objects. When you get to a
gap with a moving platform, just duck in front of it and the platform will
push you through. Cute. ^_^ You'll soon see three switches that you must
bounce to reach. Hit the first two and leave all the rest alone. Now you
can bop the very last switch to open up the exit.
The CHAMBER OF WALLS looks confusing, but it's actually straightforward.
Proceed until you find a block wall. Locate a switch and bop it to get rid of
said wall. Lather, rinse, repeat. There's a small cache of goodies here.
Near the end of the level is a fish cannon set high in a wall, directly
underneath a corner. Jump off the ledge below and hug the wall to the left to
find a passage to the stuff.
As you might guess from the name of THE ANTE-ROOM, we're almost done. Get to
the end of this linear area, dodging the various junk along the way, for a
fight with A GHASTLY GOBLIN. Don't worry about the long life meter. He's
easy.
This guy moves around in a rectangular pattern, stopping now and then to shoot
out some skulls. Jump on the left block and wait for him to get down to that
level. From there, you can hit him four times in a row. (After you stomp him
for the third time, when he's on the left side of his rectangle, jump up
through him while he's flashing. He'll solidify, and you'll land on his
head.) Repeat to save your darling daughter Wednesday.
If you want to, walk through the platform here to get some quick points. THE
LAST CHAMBER brings you to the beginning of the whole crypt area. You could
work your way back through the underground region or the conservatory, but
this is what Select to Quit is for, eh?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Granny [WK_GRANNY]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Head back to THE KITCHEN. This time, go to the right to find GRANNY'S STOVE.
The stove entrance is blocked off, but you shouldn't have much trouble
locating the switch. Before you drop in, duck through the alcoves in the
upper left and upper right corners of this area to reach two secret rooms.
The stovepipe dumps you into THE FURNACE, a vertical room. Just head for the
bottom, flipping any of the four switches to dissolve the floor. If you hit
the far left switch, you'll wind up on a block and can jump back up to the
now-open door that leads to RED HOT MAZE. There isn't much stuff in there,
and the exit doesn't get you significantly further ahead than the standard
route. So fall down go boom and head off to THE GRILL.
This area and the following room, THE HOB, are straightforward. Avoid the hot
stuff, ride blocks, and bop switches if you need to.
In THE OVEN, don't hit the switch at the very end of the level. The door will
be blocked, but that's OK with us. Instead, jump into the wall above the
column of blocks to find a very nice shortcut to THE LAST OVEN. Trust me, you
just saved yourself a ton of work. Make it to the end here to face off with
THE FIRE DRAGON.
It's simplest to stay on the left side of the room and stomp his head when you
get a clear shot. If you stand in the middle, you'll have more opportunities
to attack. You'll also need to put more effort into dodging the dragon and
his fireballs.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fester [WK_FESTER]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to my favorite part of the game. It's fun, with tons of good stuff
along the way and character portraits that were sophisticated by 1992
standards. These levels do require lots of dodging, which is why I suggest
you go here last. The practice you got in earlier levels will pay off.
Enter the upper left door in the HALL OF STAIRS to reach the PORTRAIT GALLERY.
For some extra cash, head through the door in the middle of the level and
cross over to THE DARK ROOM. Ooh, I'm scared...not.
THE ARMOURY is next, and it contains an interesting secret. Proceed through
the level until you hit a switch to create a large square of blocks. Get on
top of that and jump off to the left. If you hit the right spot, you'll
disappear into a hidden room. Eeeeexcellent.
The pit in the middle of the HALL OF CLOCKS leads to THE CLOCK DROP, a
small, rather inconsequential secret room. Don't be heartbroken if it
happens to be covered up when you find it. (Locate and bop any switch to
remove the blocks.)
Next on the list is THE WEAPONRY. Notice the unreachable ledge at the end.
This will be quite useful for the next level. Go through the exit to FLY,
FLY, FLY. Grab a Fezi-copter, backtrack, and fly back up to the ledge. Get
all the stuff in THE CLOSET except for the invincibility shield. Exit and
return to make the shoes and heart regenerate. Collect a second pair of
shoes, grab the shield, and make a run for FLY, FLY, FLY. With all that extra
speed, you should reach the end of the room before your shield runs out.
Spiffy!
In the LOWER GALLERY, look for the rug that doesn't spit bears. Walk into
THE BEAR'S MOUTH for a few extras. The door at the end takes you into the
neato library region. Somebody obviously took creative liberties with the
book names.
As you enter THE LIBRARY, jump up on the Thing box and then up to the left.
Walk into the wall for some cash on THE TOP SHELF. In THE READING ROOM,
there's an aptly named book that you can walk into. This will get you on top
of the books, where a door with more stuff awaits. Or you can skip the super
fun secret passage and grab the Fezi-copter in this level.
THE BIG BOOKS contains another aptly named book that you can drop into. Grab
a sword first so that you can collect the 1-Up in there, which is too high to
reach by jumping. This is the last library area. Head into THE TRAIN ROOM
and get ready to ride.
Dodge the spikes and don't fall onto the electrified track. If you're
carrying a weapon, be careful not to kill off the smokestack. It's helpful at
the end of the ride, where you can stand on it and duck to avoid that final
column of spikes.
Time to beat the crap out of Abigail Craven. Whoopee. Bounce off Fester to
conk her on the head as she swoops down. This isn't particularly tough.
You'll just need to watch Abigail and Fester's movement patterns and time your
jumps to hit her when she's at her lowest point. Be sure to land on her head.
If you stomp anywhere else, you'll fall through and get hurt.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morticia [WK_MORTICIA]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The middle door in the HALL OF STAIRS leads to THE MUSIC ROOM, which, until
now, was useless to us. Gee, guess where I'm trying to tell you to go.
*nudge, nudge*
After Lurch is done with his ditty, the wall vanishes. Go on through to THE
CHAIN ROOM. At first glance, this place is confusing. There are a bunch of
doors, and some of them simply take you to other doors in the same room.
There are different ways to get through here, but the following is easiest.
Head right and enter the door that you'll see next to a wall. Ignore the
room's DON'T GO DOWN admonishment and fall into THE PIRANHA TANK. Swim down,
right, and up to find a door to AMAZING CHAINS.
Use the chains you see to head up and to the left, where you'll find a switch.
Conk it and go back to the door from which you entered this room. From here,
climb up to the exit. Just be careful of two things. Most of the lumpy
platform with a chain hanging from it will fall when you touch it. There's
also a hidden pit right in front of the door. Yes, it's sneaky, but it's easy
to spot. Notice the column-shaped indentation in the stonework.
The HALL OF CHAINS can be a real nuisance if you don't know the secret.
There's a hole here that requires tricky falling to pass. If you fail, you
get plopped back into THE PIRANHA TANK and have to work your way back here
again. Luckily, we can skip this whole mess. Grab the chain directly above
you. Climb up and into the ceiling. Jump around and mess with the D-pad
until you disappear into GOLDEN CHAIN. Free stuff + an easy shortcut to the
exit door = niiiiiiice.
THE STEPS DOWN just drops you into CHAIN OF COINS, where you can collect some
cash as you fall. At the end, duck into the door on the left for goodies in
LAST REFILL. The right exit takes you into THE CAVES.
From here on, you'll be going through a long, linear sequence of rooms. In
all honesty, this final stretch is boring. Just hop, bop, and dodge your way
through each area as you come to it. There are a few things to keep in mind.
________________________________________
These rooms require more caution than those in the earlier parts of the game.
If you die before you reach the end, you'll have to start over from the
entrance door.
On the bottom level of THE CAVES are three dollars forming an arch. Stand
under them and press UP to enter GOLFER'S PRIZE. There's not much to it, but
you might find the golf ball and hearts useful.
When you hit THE CATACOMBS, keep an eye out for a door on an upper ledge.
This leads to ROLLING STONES and some extra cash.
There's money in the ponds at the bottom of DOWN DEEPER and THE MINE SHAFT.
If you're hurting for lives, find a volcano without any enemies nearby. Stand
on said volcano and let the game sit for a while. You'll collect points,
which translate to 1-Ups.
________________________________________
TO THE RIVER is the last cave area. Once you're done here, you'll get to ride
THE GONDOLA! Or maybe not. The boat ride is faster than swimming, but it may
be easier to go for a dip and kill the piranhas along the way. The door at
the end leads to...
...ADDAMS' VAULT! Be amused by the combination and head on through to THE
TREASURY. This is a freebie area. Collect all the stuff, enjoy the shiny
scenery, and then enter the final door to beat the tar out of...
...THE NASTY JUDGE! He may be the final boss, but he's a pushover if you're
patient. Get up on the left edge of the podium, close to his foot but not
touching it. Duck. The falling gavels will miss you here, and the judge
won't clip you when he jumps off to the left. Wait for him to jump to the
left. Stomp on his head. Get back into position. Repeat until he's squished
flat.
Relax and enjoy the ending, especially the caricatures of the development
team.
===============================================================================
6) Password Hacking [PASSWORD]
===============================================================================
Basic Explanation
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Characters 1 and 2 tell which areas you've completed and which weapon you
have. Characters 3 and 4 represent the number of lives. 5 is a checksum.
The game orders the password character set in a certain way, as you can see in
what I call the translation table.
----------------------------------------------------------------
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
----------------------------------------------------------------
1 # K S 9 J R Y Z H 8 7 G P X W
----------------------------------------------------------------
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
----------------------------------------------------------------
& F 6 5 ? N V M D 4 3 C L T B 2
I'll illustrate the process of password generation with an example [EX]. Our
password will give us the heart from the conservatory, Granny and Fester
rescued, 75 lives, and a golf ball.
Characters 1 and 2 -----------------------------------------------------------
These characters are just sets of binary flags, each corresponding to a
defeated boss and weapon.
Character 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Tree Conservatory Freezer Pugsley Sword
(Heart #1) (Heart #3) (Heart #2)
Character 2 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Granny Wednesday Fester (unused) Golf Ball
1) Set the flags of the cleared stages and the weapon (if any) to start
with. The sword takes precedence over the golf ball. If you want the
golf ball, make sure that the sword flag is not set. As you probably
guessed, the unused flag doesn't matter at all.
[EX] 01000 (character 1), 10101 (character 2)
2) Convert these numbers to decimal. Look them up in the translation
table.
[EX] 8 => Z (character 1), 21 => N (character 2)
Characters 3 and 4 -----------------------------------------------------------
1) Reverse the digits in the number of lives that you've selected.*
[EX] 57
2) Look up the first digit in the translation table to get character 3.
[EX] 5 => J
3) Multiply the second digit by two. Look this up in the translation
table to find character 4.
[EX] 14 => X
* As mentioned earlier, the password will not work if either of the digits
in your life count are 9. This is due to a bug explained in the Gory
Details section.
Character 5 ------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Add the numerical equivalents of the first four characters. AND the
sum with 31.* Look up the result in the translation table to get
character 5.
[EX] (8 + 21 + 5 + 14) & 31 = 16 => &, and a finished password of ZNJX&
* If you don't have any handy way of doing logical AND operations, and
you don't feel like calculating them by hand, there's always brute
force. Try a different checksum until the password is accepted.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gory Details
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For the curious, this is where I explain the password cracking methodology and
that annoying bug with 9 digits in the number of lives.
The Process ------------------------------------------------------------------
Way back when, I figured out characters 3 and 4 just by looking at a bunch
of passwords that I'd written down. I tried to crack 1 and 2 by making a
giant table with various combinations of stages cleared and weapons
possessed. I couldn't find any patterns in the giant table, so my efforts
went nowhere.
Some years later, I chatted with Parasyte, who is well-versed in SNES ASM
and ROM hacking. He offered to help me out with this project. Parasyte
produced a dump of the password character set in the order in which it was
loaded in RAM. He also determined how to get the checksum.
Once we had the rearranged character set, the once-enigmatic password
unraveled quickly. I made a new list of finished levels. Instead of
arranging the characters in alphanumeric order as I'd done in the past, I
listed them in the order that the game did. This made all the difference.
We saw a clear pattern, and it was simple for us to figure out the meaning
of each digit.
The Infamous 9 Bug -----------------------------------------------------------
Parasyte dug up the following bit of ASM that checks to make sure that the
lives digits are in the proper range. Assuming that the binary (converted)
password is placed in $00:0135 -
$00:83DE B5 02 LDA $02,x [$00:0137] ;Digit 3
$00:83E0 C9 09 CMP #$09
$00:83E2 B0 1C BCS $1C [$8400] ;ERROR!
$00:83E4 B5 03 LDA $03,x [$00:0138] ;Digit 4
$00:83E6 4A LSR A ;Divide by 2
$00:83E7 C9 09 CMP #$09
$00:83E9 B0 15 BCS $15 [$8400] ;ERROR!
At the ERROR! lines, the code branches to the "wrong password" routine if
either lives digit is greater than or equal to 9. It was intended to check
the digits to make sure that they're in the correct range, but they should
be compared to 10 instead. If you're playing this game in ROM format, you
can fix the bug by changing both of the #$09's to #$0A. Fun, eh?
===============================================================================
7) Fun Stuff [FUN_STUFF]
===============================================================================
Game Genie Codes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3CA7-A467 Invincibility
3CAD-A46D Infinite Fezi-Copter!
60BA-6704
3CAD-A4D4 Invisible Gomez
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Glitches
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wacky Fez Land ---------------------------------------------------------------
Apply the infinite Fezi-Copter code and make your way to THE TREASURY. Fly
up to the right of the platform above the exit door. You'll actually fly
back up through the floor. The level graphics still look OK, but the
platform data is all screwed up. You'll fall through sections of the floor
that you should be able to stand on. Sometimes you'll be able to "land" in
midair. Running off one side of the screen makes Gomez disappear while
leaving his fez visible. Repeating that brings him back.
You're stuck at that point. Doing Select to Quit returns the game to
normal. From what I can tell, I forced the level data pointer out of the
room. I'm not aware of any other areas where the developers forgot to
bound a room. If such rooms exist, the glitch should be repeatable there.
Walking Through Walls --------------------------------------------------------
With the help of an emulator, it is possible to glitch through walls from
the left side only. Deign takes advantage of this in his tool-assisted
speed run linked below.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tool-Assisted Speed Run
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deign sneaks through the music room wall and flies through the final dungeon
to blitz the game in 3 minutes, 42 seconds.
Original Submission - http://tasvideos.org/1604S.html
YouTube Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAPwzA2ha7s
===============================================================================
8) Revision History [REVISIONS]
===============================================================================
v3.0 6/10/2008 - Reformatted the FAQ and rewrote some text. Changed my
email address. Added explanation of getting the 1-Ups in
Cryptic Climb. Added link to Deign's tool-assisted speed
run.
v2.0 12/16/2002 - Added an explanation of the now fully cracked password
system. Made a few minor edits.
v1.1 12/11/2002 - Added Cryptic Climb and Golfer's Prize and updated the
credits section. Made some minor formatting changes.
v1.0 6/22/2002 - Finished writing the FAQ.
===============================================================================
9) Credits [CREDITS]
===============================================================================
Nintendo Power for sparking my interest in this game so many years ago with a
detailed walkthrough, including that awesome shortcut to The Last Oven.
DDCecil and Proto_K for uncovering the well-hidden entrances to The Cold Cash,
Cryptic Climb, and Golfer's Prize.
Parasyte for helping me crack the password system and understand how it works.
Susan Carriere for the Cryptic Climb solution.
http://www.gamegenie.com for Game Genie codes.
===============================================================================
10) Legal Junk [LEGAL]
===============================================================================
This FAQ is copyright 2008 by Rydain Darkstar <rydain@gmail.com> Feel free to
pass it around, put it on your website, print it out for future reference (or
kindling, toilet paper, or anything that floats your boat), et cetera, blah
blah blah, whatever. Just don't sell it or take credit for any of my work
expressed herein.